


our little place

by darlingsuga



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-06-24 11:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19722697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/darlingsuga/pseuds/darlingsuga
Summary: Severus and Hermione fall in love above an apothecary. Then, they're in love inside a bookshop.





	our little place

Severus slowly lowered the fire under the caldron and removing it so it could cool more efficiently. He gathered three crystal vials that were charmed to be unbreakable and poured the potion of Pepperup that one of his customers had ordered. He set it aside and cleaned up his work station.

It had been a year since the Final Battle. A year since he survived a life-threatening snake bite. Eight months since he opened his own apothecary and potions shop in Diagon Alley. And six months since he started dating Hermione Granger.

She’d been coming to visit him when he was stuck in a hospital bed, reading to him, talking to him about anything and everything, and generally just keeping him company. He was extremely grateful for her during that time period (though he wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, but her), he thought he’d go mad otherwise.

Even after he was healthy and was running his shop, she came to visit frequently. Always under the guise of needing something from the shop despite her spending a few hours there just to talk to him. Not that he minded, her presence made him happy, made him feel like he had something to look forward to.

She was talking about her dream of one day opening up a little bookshop when he said, “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight?”

Despite being cut-off mid sentence, she smiled, her brown eyes warm and looking deep into his, “I’d love that.” Severus couldn’t help but smile back at her, his first real smile in years probably.

That’s how it started: dinner, everyday for a few weeks. Their dinners were filled with delicious food accompanied with wine with soft classical music playing in the background. Afterwards, the would curl up on Severus’ settee with books, just enjoying the presence of the other and the warmth of the fire roaring in front of them.

On one of these nights, Severus couldn’t concentrate much on the text in front of it despite the fascinating topic of another potioneers experiments with trying to make Wolfsbane much better than it is.

He looked towards the woman to his left. She was slouching a little and chewing on the bottom of her lip, completely enthralled in what she was reading. Her curly hair tied in a ponytail, a few tendrils poking out and framing the front of her face. Severus’ breath hitched a little. She looked absolutely gorgeous — as she always does.

Then, a thought crossed his head as he went back to the text in front of him. He kept reading the same sentence over and over again, the thought never leaving the forefront of his mind.

“Hermione?”

“Hmm?” She looked up at him with those lovely brown eyes of hers.

“I want to ask you a question.” He said simply.

At this, she straightened up a little and faced more towards him, confusion evident on her face, “Go on,” she said after she settled.

“I was just wondering… That is… Would you…” He sighed and stayed silent for a moment, trying to collect his thoughts, “We’ve been having dinner for a while now and I wanted to ask if you would want to possibly go on a date one day? A proper date.”

Severus saw her eyes go wide. Maybe she didn’t want to date him? Maybe all she saw in him was a good friend? Someone to talk to about potions and other intellectual pursuits that intrigued her.

“Severus.” She started slowly, “I thought we’ve been dating all these weeks now since our first dinner.”

This time, _his_ eyes went wide, “I didn’t know you thought of them as… dates. They seemed rather normal to me.”

She sighed, her cheeks tinged pink, “I thought you were taking it slow.”

Severus grabbed one of her hands and both of his and gently rubbed circles with the pad of his thumb, “Well then, Hermione Granger, why don’t we make this revelation… official?” His cheeks started to color at this point, not that he cared though, not when the witch of his dreams was about to actually _be his_.

“I’d like that, Severus Snape.”

He leaned in a little closer to her, their eyes locked on each other. He could smell the sweet scent of her perfume: bergamot and grapefruit. His eyes wandered down to her lips, a little chapped and red from where she was chewing on them earlier, but still tantalizing.

His eyes went back to her brown ones and he inched a little closer, one hand coming to rest on her hip and the other cupped her cheek. He heard her let out a short gasp and her eyes fluttered closed. He closed his as well, inching closer to her lips. 

Then they bumped noses, both of their eyes opening and pink on their cheeks as they moved their faces a few inches apart, though his hands stayed in place.

“Whoops.” Hermione said at the same time Severus said, “My fault.”

They tried again, eyes closed and went closer towards each other.

This time their foreheads bumped.

Their cheeks were even redder as Severus let out a chuckle, “We aren’t very good at this.”

Hermione smiled in response, “Guess we’ll have to keep trying.”

And so they did, this time tilting their heads a little and finally their lips meant in a chaste kiss, he could briefly taste the peach wine she was drinking on her lips and he didn’t want to stop. They parted, looking at each other and Severus could see the love in her eyes.

“You know, Severus, practice makes perfect…”

“Indeed it does.”

That nights and some nights after were spent cuddling and kissing, holding hands and smiling, reading was the furthest thing from both of their minds.

Severus smiled recalling the fond memory and quickly gathered his coat. He grabbed his scarf and rubbed his thumb over the stitching a little, a small smile on his face.

He walked out the door of his shop, locking and warding it. Severus tightened the green scarf around his neck. It was winter — the day after Christmas in fact — and rather chilly as he made his way through Diagon Alley, noting that a lot of the shops seemed to be doing well, remembering that just a year ago, everything was in ruins.

He walked a path that seemed all too familiar to him now. Getting to his destination, he opened the dark green door despite the closed sign on it and when inside was greeted to a sight of a warm brown eyes and a bright smile.

“Severus! I was wondering if you’d show up today.” she set down the book that she was reading and gestured to the sitting area of two chairs, a couch, and a coffee table in front of a fireplace that was off to the side of her quaint little bookshop.

“I’m here and I’m afraid you’re stuck with me now, Hermione.” Severus took off his coat and scarf, hanging them on a rack near the door and sat across from her, the fire already roaring in front of them making him feel warmer than he had been.

“Nonsense. I like you being here. And I see you liked your gift?” she smiled, pointing to the rack where the green scarf was.

“It was an adequate gift.” his lips quirked up in a smiled, not going unnoticed by Hermione — not that he wanted it to go unnoticed.

She gave him a mock glare, “Severus Snape, I spent weeks knitting that for you, the least you can say is that you liked it!” Her hair frizzed around her face as she spoke and Severus couldn’t help but smile.

“I liked it. What did you think of my gift?”

Hermione’s hands rose up to her neck where she felt the necklace that Severus had bought her. A beautiful piece of jewelry in the shape of a key. She smirked as she spoke, “Also adequate.”

Severus let out a chuckle, “Quite.”

Hermione fiddled with it bit more before asking, “Why a key?”

He raised an eyebrow at her, “I thought it to be rather obvious.”

“If it was, I wouldn’t ask.” She huffed.

“It is a key.”

“Yes, I can see that, Severus.”

“I truly cannot believe what I am about to say,” his dark eyes bore in her brown ones, full of love, “but, it is meant to represent the key to my heart, which you have managed to unlock.”

Hermione couldn’t help the smile on her face as she got up from her chair and went towards Severus, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning down to give him a hug, “You’re such a sap.” She pulled back a little, looking into his eyes, “but, you’re _my_ sap.”

“Indeed.”

Her lips met his in a gentle and sweet kiss. He tasted of sweet coffee that he no doubt drank before getting to her bookshop and she of the mints that she always laid out for customers to have should they wish.

“I love you, Severus.”

“And I love you, Hermione.”

She made him get up and move to the couch so she could settle more comfortably against him and summoned the books they had both started reading the night before. They were content, listening to the others breathing and the slow turning of pages. Hermione traced lazy circles against his thigh as she leaned closer to him. Severus wrapped his arm around her, playing with the ends of her curly hair.

They were content.

“Also, Severus, can I say something?”

“Hmm?”

“The key wasn’t obvious. You want to know what _was_ obvious, though?”

“Hermione… Don’t say it…” Severus said with mock anger, a slight smile on his face.

“I thought it was rather obvious we were dating when we had gone out to dinner everyday for a few weeks.”

“Hermione!”

“What?” An innocent smile on her face.

“Will you ever let me live that down?”

“Never.” She kissed his cheek and went back to reading as Severus thought about how much he loved her, a true smile across his face as he went back to the book he was reading.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaa!!! hope you liked this!!! the title is from the song "my favorite book" by stars
> 
> [talk to me on tumblr !!](https://darlingsugas.tumblr.com/)


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